birding-aus

Leg-flagging waders

To: Birding-aus <>
Subject: Leg-flagging waders
From: Peter Milburn <>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 14:52:55 +1100
Penn Gwynne/John Gamblin wrote

>Am I right to assume that a wild bird has to be caught by human hands and
>that >these human hands as is often the case have very little training?
>the wild >protected birds are caught by netting ... once netted they are
>then tagged or >flagged and exactly for what? and why?

A bird does have to be caught and handled to be fitted with a leg flag.  On
this we may agree.  I am not in any way associated with these activities so
I am not in a position to comment further except to express an opinion.

My opinions do not agree with many of the opinions otherwise stated by Penn
Gwynne/John Gamblin in her/his multiple manifestations.  In the absence of
any substantiation, I object to the inference that the people who work with
waders have very little training.  This appears to be an attempt to
belittle others without justification and fraudulently garner support for
her/his cause.

Wild birds suffer mortality as a result of most human activity.
Powerlines, road vehicles, windows, hunting, trapping, poisoning, oil
spilling, fisheries operations, oilflares, lighthouses etc. inflict direct
killing.  Indirect mortality arises from habitat destruction  and
disturbance caused by housing development, agriculture, pastoralism,
deforestation, recreational land use etc.  If we stopped all of these
activities then I might agree that certain research motivated by
conservation issues was uneccessary.

Penn/John, perhaps it would be useful to broaden your impressive campaign
against the causes of mortality in wild birds if you want a greater level
of agreement with what you write.  It would also be particularly useful if
you provided tangiable evidence to substantaite your claims.

Dr P.J. Milburn
Biomolecular Resource Facility
Australian National University
GPO Box 334
Canberra
ACT 0200

+61 2 6125 4173 'Phone
+61 2 6125 4326 FAX


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